[EL] Call for papers

[Jim Gardner]

With apologies for any duplication and cross-listing:

CALL FOR PAPERS: Conference on Major Developments in Redistricting, Oct. 14-15, 2011 

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 15, 2011



In what some have called a “post-racial” America, conflicts about racial vote dilution and its remediation that dominated past redistricting cycles appear to have taken a back seat to broader questions about the legitimacy of the redistricting process.  Against the background of high unemployment and significant regulatory failures, the public seems much less tolerant of legislators insulating themselves from voters by drawing safe districts for themselves.  This appears to be true, not merely for congressional and statewide legislative redistricting, but also for redistricting by the far more numerous counties, cities, and other local jurisdictions.  Across the country reform efforts are seeking transparency, greater openness to public participation, removal of redistricting from the hands of legislatures and governing bodies, and the design of more legitimate redistricting institutions and decision procedures. What these efforts amount to remains to be seen.



It is to explore and debate these trends that we bring nationally recognized scholars, experts, and practitioners together with advocates and participants in the current redistricting process at the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at UB Law School.  



Although the focus of the various panels is flexible, we are especially interested in presentations that address these process issues or consider redistricting at the local level.  Redistricting at the county, city and other local levels, in particular, are rarely studied.  As Bruce Cain and John Hopkins have noted, it is simply assumed that these issues are derivative of, or reflective of, issues that arise in congressional or state legislative redistricting. 



However, contributions based on your current interests and research topics are welcome. We will consider discussion about substantive redistricting choices, such as the legal and practical significance of “communities of interest,” and other topics as well.



Host:  The conference is sponsored and hosted by the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, which is affiliated with the University at Buffalo Law School, S.U.N.Y., Buffalo, NY 14260.  



Contact for Submissions:  

mhalbers at buffalo.edu



Conference Organizers:

James A. Gardner, S.U.N.Y. Distinguished Professor and Director of the Jaeckle Center for State and Local Democracy.

Michael Halberstam, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo Law School, S.U.N.Y.

Rick Su, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo Law School, S.U.N.Y.



SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 15, 2011

________________________________
James A. Gardner
Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and
Joseph W. Belluck and Laura L. Aswad
  SUNY Distinguished Professor of Civil Justice
State University of New York
University at Buffalo School of Law
Room 316, O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
voice: 716-645-2052
fax: 716-645-5968
e-mail: jgard at buffalo.edu
www.law.buffalo.edu
Papers at http://ssrn.com/author=40126

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20110711/3fc09b96/attachment.html>